A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to application of both electrical pulses and mechanical vibrations to the skin at the same time in a controlled manner, in order to increase the absorption of substances applied previously on the skin.
B. Description of the Related Art
It is known that a mechanical vibration applied to the skin is useful in order to increase the absorption of a substance previously applied to the skin. Such a substance may be a liquid, a gel, a lotion, or a cream, for example.
It is desired to provide an apparatus and a method to increase the absorption of a substance previously applied to the skin, in order to obtain an increased (e.g., moisturizing) affect of the substance applied to the skin.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method for enhancing the absorption of the skin of substances previously applied on the skin.
To accomplish this, the present invention uses a sequence of electrical pulses (between 20 and 200V peak to peak, preferably, and between 50 and 15,000 Hz preferably) provided to electrodes that are placed in contact with the skin (with the substance provided between the electrodes and the skin). There is also provided a corresponding surface vibration to the skin, by application of a mechanical vibration to the skin. The mechanical vibration is preferably of the same frequency and phase as the electrical pulses applied to the skin. The mechanical vibration is provided by way of a vibrating plate that also contains the electrodes (which provide the electrical stimulus to the skin at the same time the mechanical vibration is provided to the skin).
The substance to be absorbed by the skin is applied between the skin and the plate. Such a substance may be a cream, liquid or gel (for example, collagen, or cocoa butter, or suntan oil, or other types of skin enhancement lotions).
The method according to the invention includes:
1) The application of a liquid, a gel, a lotion, or a cream on the skin.
2) An apparatus which includes the following elements to perform the preceding treatment:
a) a vibrating plate.
b) an array of electrodes on the plate.
c) a pulse generator connected to the array of electrodes.
3) The application on the skin of the apparatus in order to enhance the natural absorption of the substance previously provided on the skin.